First Strip

Hi all.. I'm kinda back now. Finally defeated the "blogger's wall". And I guess this is what you guys been waiting for, the first comic strip:



So maybe in a million years time... this will be like superman comic #001. So please keep it in pristine condition.

I have decided to call it "boac" (no prizes for guessing where it came from) all in lower case because that's the trend right now. I'm still kinda thinking of a name for my character. For now I'm thinking "Bo". Bo is short, easy to say and remember, kinda coolish, and it ties in with the title... somehow.

*Note: I guess the setup of this blog is not the greatest to view a comic strip. I believe you can click on it to get the larger version.

The Blogger's wall

Apologies to all my fans... I have just hit what they call it, the "blogger's wall". I was told, when this happens, the blogger will experience dramatic fatigue and experience a mental blackouts. This phenomenon is called "hitting the blogger's wall". Not a nice thing.


For now, let me rest up against my lovely wall. Hopefully I will get back up soon for a bigger and better comeback! Zzz..zzz.. or not at all...

Made in China

Righto.. I think this is it. Start rolling him out!


Nothing more to say for now. Too excited.

Gray scale

Some anonymous person from the previous post asked an important question:

"is this character going to have a skin color? could be a controversial choice..."

Well, me being a big supporter of anti-racists and anti-jerks who doesn't signal or check their blind spot before changing lanes... I have decided to leave this character black and white (or white and black)
I know what you are thinking... even when he's black and white... he still looks white. Well you know what, I did that on purpose so that you can print out my comic and colour in whatever skin tone you like. Smart huh? A cartoon for all nationalities.

I will use colours when necessary, when shapes and gradient tones doesn't do the job properly.

Pause for a while

I think we are almost done? maybe? So far I'm liking the way this character is progressing... lets dance to that:

By the looks of it, hes pretty agile... Let me think... what else do i need to look into?

Bend it like

Alright, enough with the sides... I'm getting bored. I think I'll stick to this one. Looks a bit like he's not wearing any pants, but should be ok when theres some colour (Yes.. this is the correct spelling where I come from) for the pants.


I think he bends over better like this anyways :)

Which side are you on?

Alright I have chosen the 5th one from the previous post and removed the hunchback. Now my dilemma is... which crotch to use.


Should it be in front or behind the legs. as you can see in the front view, the legs covers the groin. But somehow it looks a bit awkward on the side.. do you think so? Then the other one if its behind the groin, it looks like hes wearing a skirt. argh... I might take it out totally in the end.

Side order

I think I'm having some trouble with the side of this character. I've tried a few variations but there isn't on that I like. Any suggestions or votes?

Time flies when you are having fun

Seems like it was only yesterday my baby was born. They grow up quick don't they? This is the front and back so far:The next think we'll be looking at are some different camera angles for this character. Stay tuned.

p/s: I've decided on the simple hairstyle by the way... better listen to my "girlfriend" (private joke).

Hair do and don'ts

Now to add some hair on the guy. Here's a few different variation. Probably something not too stylish or too boring... somewhere in between. Actually I don't really know... I'll have to sleep on it again.

Mouth washed

Just a quick one... when the character is not talking and expressionless, the mouth disappears. Otherwise I think the character will seem too happy all the time. Let the body do the talking.

Expression - not artificial discharge of breast milk.

Happy, sad, angry, or dead tired... every face needs some sort of expression.. I have based the face from one of the many faces I've made up in the previous post. I think this could be it...
I'm just wondering if the face needs to have a different (lighter) tint to the rest of the body... come to think of it, probably not. It's one of the more important features in a character. So that stays...

Lets face it

No character is complete without a nice looking face. I have gone through a million faces with this guy and guess what, I am still undecided on which one to use... maybe I'll have to wait until I get use to one.


Here are some of my thoughts:

A pair of eyes are a must in any character. This can show where he is looking at and the feelings he's um.. feeling. Theres probably more to it but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

A Mouth is just as important. It can show the mood of the character, the movement as he's speaking, kissing, eating, and somewhere to use his electric tooth brush (if and when he gets one)

The next thing I might add to him are some hairs, probably only on the head. We'll see.

Which Headings?

Now I'm thinking hard. The more I look at it, I felt that the head is too big. Too clumsy. So i tried a few options. A floating head? No no..... so I ended up with a better proportionated head which is stuck to the body.
Also you might have noticed I've played around with adding some markings on the character. Just to get the feel of it.

Crotches and Butts

While adding the feet, I felt that something is missing between the legs. So this is what I've done:
This should be good for the future if the character is wearing undies or a skirt.

Hands and Feet

After sleeping on it for a night. I have decided to add in hands and feet to this character. I believe it's important.


The feet are especially useful to show where the character is facing.

Movement

Enough with the planning. Lets get into some vectoring!

As you can see from my previous posts I have roughly created a humanoid figure. It is very boxy, but I think I kinda like the neatness of it all. This is the foundation on which my character will be built on.

Because "he" is still a bit stiff, I've decided to give him some flexibility in terms of movement and agility.

I'm not sure if this is enough for now, not sure whether he needs hands and feet or not. But time will tell when he needs to play the piano.

What?

I have decided against a hand drawn character. This is because:

1, I'm too lazy to sketch.. then scan, then touch up on photoshop.

2. I probably don't have the hands free talent anyways. Could never colour inside the box.

So in the end I have decided to use a vector program... yeah you've guessed it. Adobe Illustrator. Since I have a bit of experience with this software... it should be easy... right? And the cut and paste function could save me a lot of time.

One thing I like about vector is that it (vector graphics) is scalable and still keep its quality. So hopefully once this comic becomes so popular, it can be printed on a 747 without pixelating.

Why?

Oh my... what did I do yesterday. I was more tired than I thought. Anyhow.. let us continue and see where it leads us.

My instincts told me I should have done some research before I jumped into building the building blocks.

First question I need to ask myself - Why am I doing this?

Well for starters, I think I was a bit bored. That's a pretty damn good reason already.

Secondly, I am hoping to create a comic strip. A comic strip about the wide world of creative design - something like the lighter side of designing. It's got to be entertaining, funny and smart... (it's sounding shitty already). I have a feeling it'll lead me to nowhere in say, 2 weeks time, and I'll just give up.
The good thing about all of this is that I am making it up as I go. So there's no grand master plan from the beginning. One of the major rule is, I am not bothering with spell checking and grammar. So you English perfectionist critics can go screw yourselves.

Birth of a character

Hi all, its now... 11pm on a Fridays night, 30th May 2008. I am sleepy and this is what I came up with:
"HUH?" you huhed. Well, allow me to turn the clock back maybe half an hour ago? Say 10:30pm... Here I was, minding my own business, watching kung fu fighting on youtube, then suddenly I had an urge, a calling from some greater force, to create something good. The idea came to me like a punch from Bruce Lee:

Make a cartoon character. KAPOW.

So here I am... writing this newly created blog.

I guess in the next few days. weeks, months and hopefully not years, I will be able to slowly add to and modify my little baby until it reaches puberty. As I do that, I'm hoping to share this precious journey with you.

Now bed time.